Colleges: Athletes serving as role models for area kids

Basketball — and his courageous single mother — helped keep Rajai Leggett off the streets of New Haven when he was growing up, but, sadly, he saw a lot of kids his age end up in gangs or in jail and others lost their lives.

Leggett, a Becker senior and star forward on the basketball team, wants to help youths at risk stay out of trouble.

“I saw a lot of kids back home going in the wrong direction,” Leggett said, “and I just wanted to get involved and try to make a difference in a kid’s life.”

As part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass./Metrowest school-based mentoring program, Leggett recently became a Big Brother to a 13-year-old boy who is a student at Chandler Street School in Worcester.

“It’s something I enjoy,” said Leggett, who meets his Little Brother after school for a couple of hours each week, helps him with his homework, talks with him and plays basketball with him. “I look forward to doing it.”

January is National Mentoring Month, so it’s a great time to recognize the efforts of Leggett and all the local student-athletes who are serving as role models for area kids.

Big Brothers Big Sisters started its school-based mentoring program with the Holy Cross men’s lacrosse team in 2000. The WPI men’s basketball team signed on as Big Brothers in 2003. There are now more than 20 sports teams from local colleges volunteering with this outstanding program, which the agency wants to continue to expand.

“What is nice about college athletics is that we usually get the volunteer as a freshman, so a lot keep the same ‘Little’ for four years,” said Melanie Perreault, vice president of programs for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass./Metrowest. “So you really can develop a strong bond with that child and have a stronger impact on them.”

Like Leggett, the student-athletes or “Bigs,” meet their “Littles” for a couple of hours a week after school at each team’s designated school. They help with homework, use the computer, play games, do crafts or just talk.

Perreault also organizes outings for the “Littles” to attend their “Bigs’” games, and they are always among the most enthusiastic cheering sections at Holy Cross football and WPI men’s and women’s basketball games. Other on-campus activities are also held throughout the year.

“Exposing the ‘Littles’ to the college campus during games or other visits is a great way to encourage higher education,” Perreault said.

WPI junior Theresa Logan of Southboro, a forward on the women’s basketball team, has been matched with her Little Sister, 9-year-old Rebecca, a student at Elm Park Community School, for almost three years.

“You have someone who looks up to you,” Logan said, “someone who depends on you. It’s very rewarding.”

Logan has taken special pride in seeing Rebecca excel in math.

The WPI women’s basketball team has been involved with BBBS since 2005 and a number of alums, coach Cherise Galasso said, have stayed in contact with their “Littles.”

“My ‘Little’ asked me if I’d be her ‘Big’ forever,” Logan said. “I’d like to continue with it.”

Leggett’s involvement with BBBS also includes an internship in the agency’s downtown Worcester office. He has missed a couple of weeks of work — and five basketball games — because of an eye injury, but plans on returning to both this week. Leggett, who helped Becker to the NCAA Tournament last season, is the Hawks’ leading rebounder and second-leading scorer.

Leggett, a criminal justice major, is on track to become in May the first person in his family to graduate from college. Staying in school and studying are two things he stresses to his Little Brother.

“You can achieve anything,” Leggett said. “You just have to work hard at it.”

A couple of Leggett’s teammates, as well as a few members of Becker’s men’s lacrosse and field hockey teams, are the newest groups to join the BBBS school-based mentoring program.

“I’m trying to get more of my teammates involved,” Leggett said. “I really like it a lot. I’m glad I got involved.”

The Assumption men’s basketball team is also among those involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Additionally, as part of their ongoing involvement in the Worcester community, the Assumption men’s and women’s basketball teams worked with Special Olympics athletes during a clinic held at the Bancroft School earlier this month.

About 50 Special Olympics athletes took part in the clinic. The Greyhounds have been involved with the Special Olympics program for the last four years.

“Participating in the clinic for the Special Olympics basketball players is always a great experience for our team,” Assumption women’s coach Kerry Phayre said. “Our players look forward to the event each winter break and really enjoy the interaction with the athletes. We are always impressed with their enthusiasm to learn and the skills that each of them possess.”

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the death of longtime Assumption sports information director Steve Morris.

As a tribute, the Assumption athletics department dedicated a bench, etched with his likeness and the words “Steve ‘Merc’ Morris ’72, Sports Information Director 1972-2011,” outside the office he occupied on the lower level of Laska Gymnasium for almost 40 years.

“Most people have a lifetime of work,” Assumption director of athletics Ted Paulauskas said, “but most people don’t get to work 40 years at the same place in the same job and love their work each day like Steve did.”

Paulauskas came up with the idea for the bench last spring, and the Assumption athletics department agreed that having a place where student-athletes could sit and talk with each other would be a fitting tribute. Merc’s most memorable moments were the ones he spent talking with student-athletes who passed through or visited his office.

The Holy Cross women’s basketball team has won three straight and four of five heading into tonight’s game against Army at the Hart Center.

In wins over Brown, Lafayette and Bucknell, the Crusaders got it done at both ends of the floor, making 53 percent of their shots while holding those three opponents to a combined 38 percent from the field.

“That’s a good formula for winning,” HC coach Bill Gibbons said, “and I think we’re playing with confidence.”

At 12-8 (3-2 Patriot League), the Crusaders have already surpassed their win total in each of the last two seasons.

Gibbons liked the way his team bounced back from a 61-58 loss to American at home Jan. 14.

“It was a big week for us, going 3-0, and I think it showed a lot about our character,” Gibbons said.